Message Given By FATHER DIVINE At Unity Baptist Church Brooklyn, N.Y. 1931 A.D.F.D.
Last night when we were in Hackensack, several ladies and gentlemen, as they might be called, started to confess their sins, and there were several present that began to laugh. They thought it was quite strange. But that little song I just sang is a composition for your consideration. If you cast those men out of your lives and confess your sins, and live a pure and a spotless life, you will be free from your sins.
Now it is more than seven d-v-ls in some people. It is wonderful! Some of you have more than seven to get rid of. It is wonderful! But if you throw them out, you will be free from your sins. I don’t care anything of what you have been; if you have not sinned against the Holy Ghost, if you confess and forsake your sins you shall have mercy; and you do not need to care anything about what anybody thinks about you, or anything about what anybody says about you, for if GOD is for, who can be against you?
‘He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy!’
That is why there are so many of you, especially so-called Christians, who do not prosper, because you hide your sins. Many of you do the same things that they do in the brothel; yea, that they do in Chinatown; but you hide your sins and will not expose them!
Now, if you start from tonight, and if you are bold enough to confess your sins and forsake them, GOD is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness! And if GOD forgives you of your sins and if you take up your cross and follow ME, then you will be in the Number that John saw: the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto GOD and the Lamb! That is what you must do to please GOD; and if you do that, it matters not how you have sinned heretofore; you are the same in My Sight as someone that has never sinned in that way! It is wonderful.
That is the great significance of the Redeeming Life, as being called the Redeeming Blood of Jesus CHRIST, for when it redeems you from your sins you are no longer condemned with them; and then you can say,
‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in CHRIST JESUS, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of Life in CHRIST JESUS hath made me free from the law of sin and death!” (Romans 8:1,2)
And you will fear no more! So I just said, as the speaker made confession of her sins there, all you have to do is to throw them out! Throw them out of your consciousness, and hence, throw them out of your life! Throw them, all of them, out of your consciousness, and, hence, out of your life; for
‘Everything that is not planted by My Heavenly Father shall be rooted up!’
And you know, that is why you cannot feel free because you are going around, carrying a dead man tied to your back! Truly might the apostle have said,
‘Oh, who shall deliver from the body of this death?’
There are many of you that may be carrying more than one! You have to get them out of your consciousness and cast them out of your lives before you can receive the highest teachings and be free from all of the condemnations that you want to be free from. It is a hard saying, dear ones, but it is true! There is no redemption except by living by the Teachings of CHRIST as recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, for that is the Fundamental Principle of Salvation!
So again I say unto you, cast them out of your consciousness; cast them out of your lives; cast them out of your world; all of those things that tend to separate you from the love of GOD! For, you know, when a man is in your life, or a woman is in your life, why, they take your thought off of GOD and cause you to think about self. It is wonderful!
I declare unto you, you had to give up everything before you got converted, didn’t you? You had to get your relatives, your mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers and all of your kin off your mind. You know it is true, if you ever have been truly converted. But maybe some of you have been truly converted. If you have ever been plowed up by the plowshares of the Gospel, if you have ever been set free by the Holy Ghost, you know that you had to get everything off of the mind!
You know, it is wonderful just to think about it and the contract you have made with GOD that you would serve HIM all of the days of your life! And then after you got blessed you went back and took up those same old things; your mothers, your fathers, your races and creeds and colors, your wives and your husbands and all of those things, in a way of speaking, when you gave them up as though you were fooling GOD! If you got a blessing, it may be that you didn’t have that old-time religion; but if there is anybody here that really did get that old-time religion something that moves in your body, in your heart and in your soul, and moves in you, if you ever got that, you had to come out of the world! You had to get your mind off of everything, didn’t you? and get it on GOD! on the immortal Glory! It is wonderful! Now just as you have found HIM, walk therein!
Now you can say that I AM not teaching you anything but what you were taught in the beginning; but if you were taught that to get those blessings and to get converted, and you got the blessings and then turned back they all like sheep have gone astray. It is wonderful! Now you all know that it is true! Some of you when you sought to get converted, you know the preacher told you to get your mind off of everything. I don’t mean yesterday when you just got that shake-hand religion. I don’t mean that shake-hand religion; but I mean, years back when you used to go down to the mourner’s bench. You know something about it! It is wonderful, isn’t it? You had to get your mind off of everything and when you got your mind off of everything, you said Jesus came down, and you said He gave you a kiss of His Love! It is wonderful! Now as you have found Him, walk therein!
I know all about it too! If you have forgotten it, I know all about it! But some of you remember the days and some of you remember the hour! (“So true, LORD!” declared the multitude.)
Now where is that blessing you received when you first received the LORD? Where is that soul that was so fresh? Now you know it is true you were not studying fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, sweethearts, or any of those things. You have to return back to your first love! If you don’t turn back to your first love, I will take the other love from you!
What did you promise? You know the engagement you made! It is wonderful! Now I just came in this last time to bring you back to your calling; to call your attention back to your promise and see if you will come back and re-sign your contract. It is wonderful. To see if you will re-sign that contract! It is wonderful. I know it is wonderful! If you want to go along with ME you have to re-sign that contract, and if you re-sign the contract you know you have to give up everything. You know that you wanted the LORD to save you if HE had to send your soul to H–! It is wonderful!
Now that contract if you want to renew that contract (It is wonderful!) now everyone that wants to renew the contract again, let it be known by the raising of your hands! (Hands are seen everywhere!) It is wonderful! Well done!
Now I will hold you to your contract! It is wonderful! I heard one say,
‘Leave all to follow Jesus!’
I heard you say,
‘I am stepping out upon the Promise. All I have is His today!’
Now are you willing to do that? It is wonderful! Are you willing to do it? If you are willing to do it, then take your stand; and after having stood and after having taken your stand, then stand! It is wonderful. Because I AM here now and I will hold you to your contract! I know I will go through fire and flames to hold you to your contract, and I will lead you if you will follow! It is wonderful.
For I know it is the only way, dear Ones the only way. You can only have Peace and sweet Rest as you yield to HIM your body and soul! But you never can know what the LORD will bestow of the blessing, until you have brought your body and soul to His full Control, and your all on the Altar is laid! It is wonderful. You never can know, dear Ones; you never can know.
So I say in conclusion with this little talk, I just rose to say: throw them out! And as I sang that little piece I wanted to give you the message to throw them out, and I wanted to give it in a little song, as I speak in songs and hymns and spiritual songs. I wanted to sing it so it would rest upon your mind!
Now throw every d-v-l out of your mind! To go with ME you have to throw all men and all women out of your life. It is wonderful! You have to throw them all out of your life, because you had to do that to get converted, didn’t you? (“Yes LORD!” came the reply.) Well, you have to do that to follow ME and to inherit Eternal Life! You have to throw them out of your life and you have to live a pure and a spotless life as those that are redeemed from among men and as those that are not defiled with women, and as those of virgin heart, and only then will you be so you will not die! It is a hard saying but yet it is true!
I don’t care how much you claim to be something, you will die as long as you live in flesh for
‘They that are in the flesh cannot please GOD. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of GOD dwell in you.” (Romans 8:8,9)
So I would say, if the Spirit of CHRIST reigns in you or has dominion in you, if CHRIST rules in your life, why then, you will not obey man, or flesh; you will not obey for CHRIST’S sake; and you will cast those things out of your lives and you will live a pure and a spotless life!
Now if you wish to live and always to be happy, you have to cast that kind of life out of you! It is a hard saying but yet it is true! Because a life of flesh, of excitements and pleasure and appetites and passions, will certainly bring you death, for it is a life of destruction. And it is written,
‘In the world ye shall have tribulations, but in ME ye shall have Peace!’
And it is written again,
‘Such shall have trouble in the flesh, but GOD has called us to Holiness, that you might present unto GOD a Glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle!’
It is indeed wonderful! You know it is true! And as it is with others, so can it be with you! And if you are willing to live that kind of life now, here we have those that you would ordinarily call right young men and real young women; those that have experienced married life and those that have experienced lives of debauchery and all kinds of debauchery other than that of merely drunkenness and wine; and yet those that have been redeemed as samples and as examples! They are standing as outstanding witnesses now, that this way is right!
Those that you see here, they are declaring that they are willing to live a Pure and Spotless Life! It is wonderful! They are declaring that they are willing to deny themselves and live the Life, for that is the first Principle of the Teachings of CHRIST:
‘If you hear any man inquiring after ME, tell him first to deny himself and then take up his cross and follow ME!’
It is wonderful!
I believe that most of My Students I believe some of them, anyway, are willing! I believe that there are a few of them willing to give up fleshly affections! It is wonderful. It is a mighty host! It is wonderful! Giving up human affections to live in the light of My love and to give up their lives to GOD! It is wonderful!
Now just look at them! Look at those that you would call real young men; those that you would call real young women; those that you would call real young girls, even not of age; and they have agreed to live a pure and spotless life! Now are you willing to do it? If you are not willing to do it, don’t say so! It is wonderful. You don’t have to live this Life if you don’t want to. If you don’t want to live this Life, why then, you don’t have to live it! If you want to live the life of your own mortal tendencies, and if you wish to die in your sins, don’t live this life! But if you desire to have a Life of Righteousness, of Peace, Joy, Happiness and Prosperity, you had better live it! It is wonderful.
Now I don’t believe any of My followers want to drink liquor. I mean, My real Sons and Daughters do not desire to drink liquor. They don’t want to play cards. It is wonderful. The theaters they go to is This Church and the Other Churches where we go. It is wonderful. Their pleasures, their summer resorts are the resorts that We have; that we have reserved unto GOD! It is wonderful. We don’t have to ask them to come here or to go there but they will come anyway. You all will follow me anywhere, won’t you? (A chorus of “Yes! Yes!” rings out.) It is wonderful! I don’t need to do anything that I AM teaching you not to do. It is wonderful. Lift up a Standard for the people and then you are not ashamed; for with the Standard you lift up, the Spirit of the Power will be with you to endorse your activities!
Now take these thoughts in, dear Ones. I did not rise to talk, but whensoever I get up, you all hold ME up! It is wonderful. But I just wanted to say, throw them out! Throw those old men and women out of you! Throw them out of your life! And I AM sure if you ever taste of this unmingled love, as many hundreds of you here tonight have and those that have not will, I AM sure; and you will not want to live in the flesh. For this is unmingled love and it is joy without a tear! It is wonderful!
Now you know this is a wonderful love, don’t you? You never had such a love as this, did you? (“No, no!” came the instant reply.) It is just like a magnet. It attracts others and draws them unto you, and they will be blessed of the LORD according to their faith!
The same kind of Life that Mary lived to bring forth the Personal CHRIST we must live to bring forth the Spiritual CHRIST in our lives!
We must, in My Mind, live the same kind of Life to produce that same principle and those same characteristics in our lives! It is wonderful. And then when it is finished we will see a Glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle! We are seeing a Glorious Church! We are seeing the Hundred and Forty and Four Thousand Redeemed! It is wonderful. I see them getting ready. It is wonderful. Being Redeemed! redeemed from among men, and not defiled with women! If you have ever been defiled you will be cleaned up, so you will not be defiled! I thank you!
Father Divine
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